Apparatus for forming packed refuse blocks

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for forming garbage or other types of refuse by compression into a mass or into blocks, and packing and/or wrapping the same with a wire net or the like, in which a bucketlike container is swingably mounted at the outlet opening of a compressing device, the container being arranged to make half a turn so as to allow the fitting of the wire net, the packing treatment and the release of the packed garbage or refuse block in a sequential operation.

United States Patent Tezuka 1 Oct. 10, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR FORMING PACKED 3,608,476 9/1971 Price et al ..53/l24 D REFUSE BLOCKS 72 lnventor: Kunitoshi Tezuka, 14 rs, 6-chome, Primary f McGehee l-ligashi Suna, Tokyo, Japan Amey Tab Them [2}] Appl' 133531 Apparatus for forming garbage or other types of refuse by compression into a mass or into blocks, and Foreign Application Priority Data packing and/or wrapping the same with a wire net or A r l 8 1970 la an /3271 5 the like, in which a bucket-like container is swingably p p mounted at the outlet opening of a compressing [52] U 8 Cl "53241) 53,124 100,218 device, the container being arranged to make half a 100/232 turn so as to allow the fitting of the wire net, the 51 lm. Cl. ..Bb 63/02 Packing treatment and e release of the packed gar- 58 Field of Search Hess/124 D, 124 C, 124 R, bage refuse a Sequential [56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 12 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 3,580,166 5/l9 7l Longo ..53/l24 D PATENTEDUBI 10 I972 SHEET 1 0F. 2

I NVEN TOR:

PA'TE'NTEBnm 10 m2 SHEET 2 0F 2 FIG. 5

FIG. 4

INVENTOR: A mbw 75mm APPARATUS FOR FORMING PACKED REFUSE BLOCKS This invention relates to an apparatus for forming compact blocks of garbage or refuse by compressing, solidifying and packing the refuse, particularly the kind which is unsuited for burning or incineration treatment, or the ashes or cinders remaining after incineration.

Recently, in densely populated cities, a formidable amount of refuse of all kinds is produced every day, and disposal of such refuse has now become an important problem from the standpoint of environmental sanitation and ecology.

Various methods and devices have been proposed for performing an effective refuse disposal. Burning or incineration is the most primitive method of refuse disposal, and this has many concomitant evils, and besides the disposing capacity is limited. Dumping or burying of refuse into the sea or in the ground is unsanitary and may cause contamination of sea water or air pollution.

As a solution to this problem, the present inventor has developed an apparatus for compressing refuse into compact blocks by a mechanical treatment and packing them with suitable wire nets or the like. An exemplary embodiment is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,921 of June 2, 1970 of the same inventor, entitled Device for Refuse Disposal by Compressions. Such device, however, has drawbacks that it is comparativelylarge in size and hence requires a spacious area for installation. For instance, take-out or removal of the refuse blocks, compressed in a casing, has been carried out by inserting a hydraulic cylinder ram through ahole formed in the center of a bottom plate of the casing so as to raise the completed blocks. Therefore, the provision of a hydraulic cylinder designed for take-out purposes was indispensable.

Another development of the same inventor is covered by Pat. No. 3,451,190 of June 24, 1969, entitled Device for Refuse Disposal. The present invention constitutes a major improvement over the earlier own and other prior-art devices and apparatus of the type here described.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a refuse block forming apparatus which is simple in structure and whereby loose refuse is compressed into blocks and packed or wrapped, and the packed blocks can be taken out with case.

It is another object to provide an apparatus of the type described which is equipped with wrapping or packing means allowing easy and secure packing of compacted refuse blocks with appropriate covers.

According to one of the important features of the present invention, each compressed refuse block is automatically packed up while being additionally compressed in a container. This apparatus is comparatively simple in structure and does not require vast space for installation as needed before. Thus the operation of the novel apparatus is highly economical, and hence refuse disposal can be performed at low cost.

The present invention will be better understood, and additional advantages thereof will become more apparent, upon perusal of the following description of the afore-mentioned novel apparatus for forming packed refuse blocks, taken in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a refuse block forming apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus in one of the operating conditions;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view taken along line IV IV of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along line V V of FIG. 1.

The present invention is characterized in that a side or portion of a compression container is pivotally secured to a side or portion of a refuse block delivery port of a compressing device, said container being adapted to make half a turn or pivoting so as to allow communication with said compressing device, the bottom plate of the container being openable, and locking means are provided for making a connection between the compressing device and the pivotable container when in the aligned position. Full particulars will be given in the detailed description which follows.

First, the description will be directed to the refuse compressing device forming part of the apparatus. It will be seen that a longitudinally slidable pressure plate 2 is provided at one end (the right-hand side in FIG. 1) of a substantially rectangular compression casing l which is open at its top. Plate 2 is connected to the ends of rams 5 of respective hydraulic cylinders 4 (shown schematically; it will be understood that one ram and cylinder might also be used), secured to a holding plate 3 and actuated to slidingly reciprocate in casing 1 upon supply of oil or the like operating fluid into the cylinder or cylinders, in a conventional manner.

At the end of the opening of easing l opposite to plate 2 is pivotally secured one end of a cover plate 6. Sideways of casing 1 is formed a compression chamber 7, and on the top plate of the chamber are mounted a supporting block 8 and a bracket 9 in a stacked relation. An end of a ram 11 of a hydraulic cylinder 10, rotatably supported by bracket 9, is rotatably or pivotally joined to the center portion of cover plate 6 so that the latter can be opened or closed, as desired, by feeding oil to cylinder 10. FIGS. 1 through 3 show the cover plate in an opened position, and it will be understood that when ram .11 is made to advance, toward the right-hand side of FIG. 1, plate 6 will be lowered and eventually covers casing 1.

Compression casing 1 and chamber 7 together constitute the earlier-mentioned compressing device while the compression container, which cooperates with chamber 7, will be described somewhat later.

For chamber 7 there is also provided another pressure plate 12 which is reciprocable therein, transversely to the direction of movement of plate 2 in casing 1. Plate 12 is so designed as to have a stroke extending through chamber 7 and further advancing to the outside from an outlet 13 of the latter. Plate 12 is joined to an end of a ram 14 of a hydraulic cylinder 14a (see FIG. 2) so that it is slidingly reciprocable in chamber 7 by hydraulic operation.

Now the construction of the afore-mentioned bucket-like compression container 15 will be described. It is visible in FIG. I in a top plan view while FIGS. 2 and 3 show respective side views, in horizontally and vertically directed positions (in FIG. 2, axially aligned with chamber 7). A top-opened insertion hole or mouth in container 15 has a larger diameter at its top than that of the outlet 13 of chamber 7 but the hole narrows toward its bottom where it forms a compressing section 15a (see FIG. 3) having substantially the same diameter as that of said outlet.

Section 15a extends from the top to the bottom, and as shown in FIG. 4, a guide hole 15b, being slightly wider than the compressing section, is provided therebelow, transversely to its lengthwise direction. Guide hole 15b has fitted therein a slidable bottom plate 17 which has formed at its end a hole 18 (see FIG. 4; the plate also being shown in FIGS. 1 and 5) of the same configuration as section a. Since one endof a ram 51 of a hydraulic cylinder 50, secured to a bracket 16 provided at one side of the bottom of container 15 is secured to an end of plate 17, the sliding action of the latter is controlled by operation of cylinder 50. Depending on whether ram 51 is in its rest or actuated position, the bottom of section 15a will be closed or opened to the outside, as will be understood by referring to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 5, elongated, substantially rectangular slots 66 are fonned at each side of compressing section 15a, connecting to the converged end of the large-diameter opening in container 15, and a bellcrank type folding lever 60 is swingably fitted in each slot through a shaft 61, with the angular portion of each lever 60 being pivoted at the bottom of each slot. The other end of each lever is rotatably coupled to a shaft 62, the latter having also joined thereto a ram 65 of a hydraulic cylinder 64 swingably supported by a bracket 63 which is provided on a side wall of container 15.

Levers 60 are arranged to project substantially horizontally into the container by operation of cylinder 64, thereby accordingly folding down a sleeve portion N of a cover member or packing sheet, as will be explained later in more detail (see FIG. 3). Immediately after folding, cylinder 64 is operated to return levers 60 to their original positions, to be ready for the next compressing operation of pressure plate 12 through chamber 7 and beyond outlet 13.

The mechanism for effecting the half-turn stroke or pivoting of container 15 with its section 15a is described below. A bracket 20 projecting from the upper right-hand side (FIGS. 2, 3) of an arm 19, secured to the underside of bottom plate 17, near outlet 13 of chamber 7, and a bracket 21, projecting from the upper left-hand side of container 15, are pivotally connected by a pin 22, and a hydraulic cylinder 24 is secured to a bracket 23 provided below said bracket 20 of arm 19, with an end of a ram 25 of cylinder 24 being rotatably joined to a bracket 26 which projects from a central part of the side wall of container 15. As will also be seen, the bottom end of arm 19 is bent to form a stop 27 adapted to keep compression container 15 (and its section 15a) in a substantially vertical position, as shown in FIG. 3 in solid lines (and in dot-dash lines in FIG. 2).

The locking means will now be described for securing coupling between chamber 7 (and thus indirectly with casing l) and container 15. At outlet 13 of chamber 7 and the top end of container 15 are provided similar flanges 28, 29. A clamp 30 (on the righthand side in FIG. 1), adapted to clamp flanges 28, 29 is joined to an end of a ram 33 of a hydraulic cylinder 32 secured to a bracket 31 projecting from a side wall of easing 1, while another clamp 34 (on the left-hand side in FIG. 1), positioned symmetrically with clamp 30, is

joined to an end of a similar rarn of a hydraulic cylinder 37, secured to a bracket 36 fixed to a supporting block 35 which projects from an outside wall of chamber 7. Thus, clamps 30, 34 act to either grip or release flanges 28, 29 in accordance with the operation of cylinders 32, 37. Gripping of the interconnected or coupled units 7 and 15 is of course necessary when they are horizontally aligned as shown in FIG. 2; releasing is accomplished before container 15 is swung downward into the top-open position shown in FIG. 3.

Now the discussion will be directed to the means for fitting a packing sheet or cover member for the fed-in refuse, such as for example a wire net, a synthetic resin sheet or an iron foil, into and along the inner wall of container 15 and partly into its section 15a.

It will be seen that a vertical pin 40 is mounted on a bracket 39 provided on the upper face of chamber 7 near outlet 13, and an end of an arm 41 is rotatably joined to pin 40. At the other end of arm 41 is vertically provided a hydraulic cylinder 42 having a ram 43 which has secured to its end a block 44 adapted to fit and push the sheet into container 15. Block 44 has a slightly smaller configuration than compressing section 15a and is vertically slidable therein when cylinder.42 is operated.

Numeral 46 denotes guide bars for facilitating the vertical sliding motion of cylinder 42. The swinging motion of arm 41 is effected in the following manner: a ram of a hydraulic cylinder 47 provided rotatably on bracket 39 is rotatably joined to a pin 49 suspended from the bottom of arm 41 so that the latter is laterally swung by operation of cylinder 47, whereby the top opening of container 15 and block 44 are aligned after the container has made a downward half turn, as shown between the respective positions of FIGS. 2 and 3.

Elements 50 and 51 (see FIG. 1) as well as 60 through 66 (see FIG. 5) have been described earlier. By way of recapitulation it should be noted that compression casing 1 and compression chamber 7 (parts of the compressing device) have respective pressure plates 2 and 12 reciprocable therein, in directions transversal with respect to each other, acted upon by respective cylinder and ram arrangements 4, 5 and 14a, 14. Cover plate 6 of casing 1 is pivotable by the intermediary of the similar cylinder ram unit 10, 11. Bottom plate 17 of container 15 is actuated by a similar unit 50, 51; folding levers 60 in compressing section 15a are acted upon by unit 64, 65.

The pivotal movement of container 15 (with section 15a) between the positions of FIGS. 2 and 3 is performed by a cylinder ram unit 24, 25. Clamps 30, 34 constituting the locking means between chamber 7 and container 15 are respectively operated by cylinders 32, 37 and ram 33 (that of cylinder 37 being unnumbered). Finally, horizontal swinging action of arm 41, for positioning above the open mouth of container 15 is performed by cylinder 47 while block 44, carried by said arm, can be vertically reciprocated by cylinder ram arrangement 42, 43.

It should be noted that for the sake of clearer illustration no conduits for feeding hydraulic fluid to and from the respective cylinders have been shown in the various figures. These are however conventional, equipped with control means such as valves, means for providing oil or other hydraulic fluid, and so forth, which are all known to those skilled in the art. Such control means would include a source of hydraulic fluid, an appropriate tank, one or more hydraulic pumps, changeover switches, feed and discharge conduits and other elements required for the selective or independent as well as simultaneous operation of the just described hydraulic cylinders and rams thereof.

Similarly, the illustration has been simplified by omitting therefrom conventional control means and coordinating means for a continuous operation of the inventive refuse block forming apparatus, allowing the compression casing, its pivotable cover plate, the compression chamber, the container and its compressing section, the packing block, and other operative elements of the described structure, to be operated, substantially as will be described hereinafter.

The operation of the inventive exemplary forming apparatus is as follows. First, loose refuse or the like is dumped into compression casing l which is in the condition shown in FIG. 1, with plate 6 open, and then hydraulic fluid is fed to cylinder 10 to close cover plate 6 by lowering it onto casing 1. Then fluid is fed to cylinder 4 to let pressure plate .2 advance in the direction of arrow a in casing 11, thereby pre-compacting the refuse and forcing the same into compression chamber 7, toward its left end, as seen in FIG. 1.

On the other hand, compression container stays as shown in FIG. 3, with its open end facing upwardly. Two packing sheets of wire nets or cover members N, each having been cut to a length and a width sufficient to fit said opening of cintainer 15, are spread therein a cross-like configuration, and then cylinder 47 is operated to swing arm 41 so that block 44 is positioned just above the opening of container 15, and thereafter cylinder 42 is operated to allow said block to descend. It will be understood that the wire nets N spread in the opening are fitted into container 15 while being bent in accordance with the descent of block 44.

Upon completion of this fitting step, block 44 is returned to its original (raised) position by cylinder 42. During this time, bottom plate 17 of container 15 remains closed.

Thereafter, hydraulic fluid is fed into cylinder 24 secured to arm 19 to cause container 15 to make a half turn or pivotal movement about pin 22 whereby, as shown in FIG. 2, the mouth of container 15 joined with outlet 13 of chamber 7. Until this time, clamps 30, 34 of course stay at the recessed positions indicated in FIG. 1 by dot-dash lines. After the joining has been achieved, cylinders 32, 37 are operated to let clamps 30, 34 advance so as to grip flanges 28, 29. The refuse, pre-compressed earlier in casing l, is in chamber 7, so fluid is fed into cylinder 14a to let pressure plate 12 advance in the direction of arrow b, whereby the refuse is additionally compressed and transferred substantially horizontally into container 15.

Final compression of the refuse block is completed between plates 12 and 17. The compressed refuse block or mass is subjected to final compressing action while surrounded by the wire nets N, fitted before in container 15, as the flaps of the opening ends of said nets or covers are bent by levers 60.

Finally, hole 18 in bottom plate 17 is made to register with compressing section 15a by operation of cylinder 50 which displaces plate 17 transversely to the axis of container 15, so as to force out the completed refuse blockG through the now open bottom of container 15 by final movement of plate 12. The earlier-mentioned hydraulic control means and control arrangement of course allows'any or all cylinders to be operated in either direction, partway or completely, in order to perform the described movements and operations of the apparatus and of its various sections.

After the refuse block has been discharged in a substantially horizontal direction, bottom plate 17 is closed (see FIG. 4), pressure plates 2, 12 are moved back to their original positions shown in FIG. 1, clamps 30, 34 are released, container 15 is turned or pivoted back until it contacts stop 27 (FIG. 3) and cover plate 6 of easing l is opened, thereby restoring the initial condition, ready for repetition of the above-described cycle.

The packing cover may be a sheet of synthetic resin such as vinyl chloride, polyethylene or the like, or more preferably a sheet of synthetic resin provided with a reinforcement such a wire net, or may be a sheet of metal foil. It is also possible to use a net-like cover, such as for instance a metal wire net, a synthetic-resin net, canvas, also a steel band or the like. A sheet-like cover is preferred where there is need for shutting off offensive refuse odors, and a net-like cover is suited where there is no such requirement.

The packing operation may be accomplished either by wrapping a block of refuse with a couple of or more strip sheets of said material, cut to a predetermined length, and sewing up the joints of the sheets, or by fitting into the compression container a case which has been previously prepared by using one of the abovedescribed materials.

Reference should be had at this point to applicants earlier patent application, Ser. No. 741,375 filed July 1, 1968 (based on two earlier Japanese application filed Feb. 4 and Aug. 3, 1966, as a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 569,987 of Aug. 3, l966/now US. Pat. No. 3,451,185 of June 24, 1969 entitled Method of Refuse Disposal/), entitled Refuse Blocks for Land Reclamation and the Like, now abandoned.

The apparent specific gravity of the compacted refuse blocks, although varying depending on the purpose of refuse disposal, such as reclamation of land or dumping into the sea, should preferably be more than 1.2, particularly in the case of the latter.

Thus, according to the present invention, compression of refuse, packing thereof and release of the wrapped refuse block can all be performed in a continuous process with a simple apparatus, and thus the cost of disposal is appreciably reduced.

The foregoing disclosure relates only to a preferred, exemplary embodiment of the invention, which is intended to include all changes and modifications of the example described, within the scope of the invention as set forth herein.

What I claim is 2 1. An apparatus for forming compacted and packed blocks from loose refuse, comprising, in combination, compressing means including at least one chamber for receiving loose or pre-compacted refuse and having an outlet for discharging a block compacted from the refuse, a compression container having one side pivotally secured in the vicinity of said outlet of the compression chamber and adapted to receive the compacted block, means for imparting about half a turn of pivotal movement to said container so as to establish substantially rectilinear communication with said compressing means in one of the operational positions, locking means for optionally interconnecting said outlet with an inlet of said container in said one operational position, and means for packing a sheet or the like material about the compacted block.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said locking means includes a pressing plate and clamping means for immobilizing the junction between said outlet of the compression chamber and said inlet of the container, said locking means being provided at least at one edge of said junction other than a portion of said compressing means where said container is pivotally secured.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising control means allowing at least said compressing means, said means for imparting pivotal movement to said container, said locking means and said packing means to be selectively operated independently from each other so as to achieve continuous operation of the apparatus.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said container has a bottom plate and means for selectively opening and closing said plate for discharging the compacted and packed refuse block from said container.

5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said container has a portion with a converging opening, and wherein said bottom plate is slidable by the action of said opening and closing means in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said container, and has therein a hole adapted for discharging the refuse block therethrough.

6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising means for fitting the packing sheet into said inlet of the container, said fitting means being slidingly reciprocable in at least a portion of said container.

7. The apparatus as defined in claim 6, further comprising means for folding down portions of the packing sheet onto the compacted refuse block in said container.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein a side wall of said container has at least one slot therein, said folding means including lever means extending into and mounted for vertical movement through said slot.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein said fitting means is in the form of pressure means adjustable to a position confronting said inlet of the container.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said pressure means includes a pressure plate and means for moving said plate selectively sideways and axially toward and away with respect to said inlet of the container.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said compressing means includes two chambers disposed at an angle with respect to each other, and means for successively compressing the refuse in said chambers.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the first one of said chambers has an inlet opening for receiving the loose refuse and an openable cover plate, the second one of said chambers being substantially tunnel-shaped and having therein a pressure member for compressing the refuse, with a stroke lorcilger than the axla extension of sard second chamber, a apted to extend at least partly into said container in said one operational position when communication is established between said second chamber and said container. 

1. An apparatus for forming compacted and packed blocks from loose refuse, comprising, in combination, compressing means including at least one chamber for receiving loose or precompacted refuse and having an outlet for discharging a block compacted from the refuse, a compression container having one side pivotally secured in the vicinity of said outlet of the compression chamber and adapted to receive the compacted block, means for imparting about half a turn of pivotal movement to said container so as to establish substantially rectilinear communication with said compressing means in one of the operational positions, locking means for optionally interconnecting said outlet with an inlet of said container in said one operational position, and means for packing a sheet or the like material about the compacted block.
 2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said locking means includes a pressing plate and clamping means for immobilizing the junction between said outlet of the compression chamber and said inlet of the container, said locking means being provided at least at one edge of said junction other than a portion of said compressing means where said container is pivotally secured.
 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising control means allowing at least said compressing means, said means for imparting pivotal movement to said container, said locking means and said packing means to be selectively operated independently from each other so as to achieve continuous operation of the apparatus.
 4. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said container has a bottom plate and means for selectively opening and closing said plate for discharging the compacted and packed refuse block from said container.
 5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said container has a portion with a converging opening, and wherein said bottom plate is slidable by the action of said opening and closing means in a direction perpendicular to the axis of said container, and has therein a hole adapted for discharging the refuse block therethrough.
 6. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising means for fitting the packing sheet into said inlet of the container, said fitting means being slidingly reciprocable in at least a portion of said container.
 7. The apparatus as defined in claim 6, further comprising means for folding down portions of the packing sheet onto the compacted refuse block in said container.
 8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein a side wall of said container has at least one slot therein, said folding means including lever means extending into and mounted for vertical movement through said slot.
 9. The apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein said fitting means is in the form of pressure means adjustable to a position confronting said inlet of the container.
 10. The apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said pressure means includes a pressure plate and means for moving said plate seleCtively sideways and axially toward and away with respect to said inlet of the container.
 11. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said compressing means includes two chambers disposed at an angle with respect to each other, and means for successively compressing the refuse in said chambers.
 12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the first one of said chambers has an inlet opening for receiving the loose refuse and an openable cover plate, the second one of said chambers being substantially tunnel-shaped and having therein a pressure member for compressing the refuse, with a stroke longer than the axial extension of said second chamber, adapted to extend at least partly into said container in said one operational position when communication is established between said second chamber and said container. 